The present invention relates to an installation for conveying persons from a valley station to a mountain station and for carrying persons down from the mountain station to the valley station by way of carriages which are guided along a track formed by a running rail. The installation has a cableway system with a haulage cable and transport assemblies, such as lift chairs, cabins, or gondolas, which can be coupled to the haulage cable and which are configured for individuals, and conveying means for conveying the carriages from the valley station to the mountain station. The haulage cable is thereby guided over cable-deflecting pulleys in the valley station and in the mountain station. Guide rails are provided in the valley station and in the mountain station along which the conveying means and transport assemblies, uncoupled from the haulage cable, can be guided around the cable-deflecting pulleys via conveying wheels.
Cableway systems which are designed with transport assemblies, such as cabins and chairs, by means of which persons can be conveyed from a valley station to a mountain station are known in the art. In such cableway systems, the transport assemblies can be coupled to the haulage cable, which is moved at a constant speed of, for example, 8 m/sec. In the stations, the transport assemblies can be uncoupled from the haulage cable and are guided through the stations, along guide rails, at a sufficiently low speed to allow the passengers to board and/or to disembark.
Such prior art cableway systems serve exclusively for conveying persons.
International PCT publication WO 98/36811 discloses an installation for moving individuals from a valley station to a mountain station and also from the mountain station to the valley station. The installation for movement into the valley station comprises a running rail, arranged on supports, and carriages, which can be displaced along the running rail and are designed with an arrangement for accommodating at least one individual. The installation for movement into the mountain station comprises a cableway system by means of which the individuals and the carriages are conveyed from the valley station to the mountain station. It is not specified, however, how the installation for carrying the carriages down into the valley station is functionally connected to the cableway system.
Other prior art installations require two separate means, on the one hand, for conveying the individuals from the valley station to the mountain station and, on the other hand, for conveying the carriages from the valley station to the mountain station. As a result of these installations, it is not only the case that high design outlay is required, but also that the installations do not allow optimum utilization taking into account the fact that the requirements for conveying persons, on the one hand, and for conveying carriages, on the other hand, from the valley station to the mountain station may be different and each of the two conveying means can each only perform one specific function.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an installation for transporting persons, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and which combines with one another an installation for conveying persons to a mountain station and an installation for carrying individuals down from a mountain station to a valley station, such that the design outlay is reduced, and that optimum utilization of the cableway system provided between the valley station and the mountain station is ensured.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an installation for conveying persons from a valley station to a mountain station and for carrying persons from the mountain station to the valley station, comprising:
a track formed by a running rail extending between a mountain station and a valley station and carriages configured to be guided along the track for carrying persons from the mountain station to the valley station;
a cableway system having a haulage cable, transport assemblies to be coupled to the haulage cable for conveying persons from the valley station to the mountain station, and conveying devices configured for conveying the carriages from the valley station to the mountain station;
cable-deflecting pulleys guiding and deflecting the haulage cable in the valley station and in the mountain station;
guide rails in the valley station and in the mountain station for receiving conveying wheels and guiding the conveying devices and the transport assemblies, uncoupled from the haulage cable, around the cable-deflecting pulleys;
bypass rails connected to the guide rails via diverters in the valley station and in the mountain station, the bypass rails having defined locations for coupling to the conveying devices the carriages received in the valley station via the running rail and for uncoupling from the conveying devices the carriages in the mountain station, and for transferring the carriages to the running rail.
In other words, the objects of the invention are achieved in that bypass rails are connected to the guide rails via diverters both in the valley station and in the mountain station, the bypass rails containing locations respectively for coupling to the conveying means the carriages which have been fed to the valley station via the running rail and for uncoupling from the conveying means the carriages located in the mountain station, and for transferring the latter carriages to the running rail.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the guide rail includes a first diverter in the valley station configured to move the conveying devices for the carriages onto the bypass rail, and the bypass rail includes the location for coupling to the conveying devices the carriages located in the valley station, and wherein a second diverter is configured downstream of the location to move the conveying devices, loaded with the carriages, onto the guide rail.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the guide rail includes a first diverter in the mountain station configured to move the conveying devices loaded with the carriages to the bypass rail, and the bypass rail includes a location for uncoupling the carriages from the conveying devices, whereupon the carriages are feedable to the running rail, and wherein a second diverter is configured downstream of the location for moving empty conveying devices back to the guide rail.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, there is provided a boarding location in the valley station formed with a plateau for facilitating boarding by persons. The plateau is raised by at least 50 cm, and preferably about 1 m, relative to a level defined in a region of the bypass rail at the location for coupling the carriages.
In accordance with again another feature of the invention, there is provided a disembarking location in the mountain station formed with a plateau for facilitating disembarking by persons. The plateau is raised by at least 50 cm, and preferably 1 m, relative to a level defined in the region of the bypass rail at the location for uncoupling the carriages.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the conveying devices for the carriages include a gripper system movably disposed counter to a restoring force provided by a spring system and wherein control rails are disposed above the running rail, at the locations for respectively coupling and uncoupling the carriages to and from the conveying devices, the control rails actuating and controlling the gripper system.
In accordance with a concomitant feature of the invention, for the purpose of coupling the conveying devices to the carriages at the location for coupling the conveying devices, the conveying devices are advanced up to the carriages at a higher speed than the carriages, whereupon the carriages are coupled to the conveying devices via the gripper system actuated by the control rails.
As noted, the guide rail is preferably provided, in the valley station, with a first diverter, via which the conveying means (i.e., the conveying devices) for the carriages can be moved onto the bypass rail, the rail contains the location for coupling to the conveying means the carriages located in the valley station, and provided downstream of the location is a second diverter, via which the conveying means loaded with the carriages can be moved onto the guide rail.
Similarly, the guide rail is formed with a first diverter in the mountain station, via which the conveying means (i.e., the conveying devices) loaded with the carriages can be moved onto the bypass rail, the bypass rail containing that location in which the carriages can be uncoupled from the conveying means, whereupon they can be fed to the running rail, and provided downstream of the location is a second diverter, via which the empty conveying means for the carriages can be moved back to the guide rail.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an installation for conveying persons, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.